The traditional Short Message Service (SMS) can provide SMS receipt return function, namely, after a sender sends a short, message, he/she will receive a disposition notification so as to allow him/her to learn that the short message has been sent to the recipient. The multimedia message service receipt return also provides a read report besides the delivery report, namely a read report will be generated after the recipient has read a multimedia message so as to notify the sender that the multimedia message has been read.
Instant message service can support similar disposition notifications. An instant message system differentiates different users by allocating different user identifiers (or, referred to as accounts or addresses) to them, and users use these identifiers for login, registration and communication. To improve user experience, more and more terminals (including cell phone and PC, etc.) support the function that a user identifier is used for logging in multiple terminals. Take instant message service for example, a user can have a user identifier, and with it, log in and register on multiple different terminals.
When an instant message user sends an instant message to a group (including preset group and temporary group), it is very disturbing to the sender if every recipient in the group returns a disposition notification.
For IP telephony or video conference (a group is invited to a conference), the conference invitee is also required to return a receipt message (not necessarily in the form of disposition notification) to the conference initiator, namely the receipt message shall be returned in the path from the invitee to the group server and then to the conference initiator.
Converged IP Messaging (CPM) can realize mutual communication of multiple message services, providing a consistent, convenient and unified message service experience. The service forms of CPM include: pager-mode based CPM, session-mode based large message mode CPM and other session based CPM Session services. Before using these services normally, a user has to register and log in the CPM system, namely “on line” (as is often said) or available to the CPM system.
CPM address is the user identifier in the CPM system (also referred to as CPM enabler, namely CPM service engine) used for differentiating different users in the system and can support two kinds of disposition notifications, namely delivery report and read report. To improve user experience, in the CPM system, a user can have multiple CPM addresses and register in multiple terminal equipment, namely “be online” simultaneously.
In the related prior art, the solution as follows: if a user sending an instant message to a group states definitely that disposition notification is required, the CPM system can combine the disposition notifications returned by each recipient and then send it to the instant message sender, which can free users from being disturbing. Combination method includes, for example, each recipient in the group returns a disposition notification which is routed to a group server who combines the multiple disposition notifications and sends the disposition notification combined to the sender cheat of the original instant message.
In the instant message system and CPM system above, if a user sends a message to a group and applies for disposition notification for the message, the service server at the network will send the disposition notification sent by the recipient to the sender of the original message. To avoid disturbing users, disposition notification shall be routed to the related group server for combination. However, if multiple message clients of the original sender are simultaneously online, it is difficult to determine to which message client the disposition notification shall be sent and carry out follow-up processing tor the disposition notification in the prior art, which will cause the disposition notification cannot be sent to the designated client.
Similarly, for the CPM Session service in the CPM system, when a CPM client of an initiator of the CPM Session initiates a CPM Session dialogue to a group, the problem above may also exist if the recipient is required to return a receipt message to a CPM client of the original initiator. Specifically, a user initiates a CPM Session dialogue to a group, each recipient in the group returns a receipt message to the original sender client, then the receipt message can be routed to the CPM controlling function entity by each dialogue invitee as the CPM Message disposition notification introduced above, and then the CPM controlling function entity combines the receipt messages and sends it to the original session inviter client.